The County Lines

WASHINGTON

Adams County

Othello

The Othello School District board of directors has set an election for Feb. 29 on its biennial maintenance and operations levy request. The board has not yet decided on levy amounts. It is considering two scenarios that take into account inflation, enrollment fluctuations and facilities needs.

Ferry County

Republic

Budget constraints have kept Ferry County from hiring a backup maintenance worker. If the regular maintenance employee goes on vacation or is sick, his work goes undone. County commissioners decided county departments could do their own janitorial work when the maintenance person is on vacation.

Grant County

Ephrata

Youth pastor Oscar Ochoa recently was given the Peer Recognition Award by Gov. Gary Locke for his work with some of the Columbia Basin’s most troubled youths. Ochoa, of the Ephrata Spanish Assembly of God Church, started a bus ministry to find the youths who need his help the most. The majority have been in juvenile detention or are abusing drugs. Ochoa has spearheaded many activities to help bring the youths self-worth and a sense of a better future.

Lincoln County

Wilbur

Athletics are big in Lincoln County, and the Bi-County League honors hard-working athletic directors with a special award. This year, Wilbur Athletic Director Steve Jantz has been chosen Bi-County Athletic Director of the Year.

Pend Oreille County

Metaline Falls

Local basketball fans know weekend quad games make for a long day. This winter, the Selkirk School District is allowing various clubs and classes to take turns serving dinner during quad games to raise money and to provide a service to the community and guests from other towns. The seniors will kick off the dinners with Papa Murphy’s pizza on Jan. 22 when the Rangers take on St. George’s School of Spokane.

Spokane County

Spokane

A series of free workshops for parents of teenagers is being sponsored by the Community Health Education Resources group, Spokane School District 81 and the medical auxiliary. The first class on anger, adolescents and depression is scheduled next Thursday from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. at the Deaconess Health Education Center. Other classes will cover talking about sex with teens and dealing with attention deficit disorder. For more information, call (509) 473-6960.

Stevens County

Colville

Although the snow is beautiful, it easily can become the enemy of hikers and skiers. Hoping to educate the public about avalanche danger, Mill Creek Outfitters in Colville is holding a free class providing basic avalanche information. The class will be Friday from 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. Those wishing to know how to survive an avalanche or how to avoid the “big white ride” are invited to call (509) 684-9782 for more details. More complete training on snowfields will be held later this winter.

Whitman County

Pullman

Canned and other nonperishable food items will be collected during the second-annual Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. holiday food drive on Monday at the Pullman Safeway store. Sponsored by the Office of Multicultural Student Services at Washington State University, the drive will be held from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. People interested in volunteering may contact Herb Delaney, Multicultural Student Services community relations assistant director, at (509) 335-5711. Dorothy Cotton, a King colleague, will deliver the keynote address at 7 p.m. Tuesday during WSU’s annual program celebrating the life of the late civil rights leader.

IDAHO

Benewah County

St. Maries

The property of four Shoshone County residents might be annexed into the Fernwood Fire District if three of those residents vote in favor of the idea on Feb. 1. Despite the small number of participants, the election is required by Shoshone County, fire district commissioner Duke Harris said.

Bonner County

Priest River

City officials request residents not to leave vehicles parked downtown overnight so city streets can be plowed. In residential areas, people should park as far off the street as possible if they can’t get their vehicles completely off the street. Street commissioner Wally Mitchell said roads will be sanded after each snowstorm.

Boundary County

Bonners Ferry

Gini Woodward, owner of Haversol’s Dry Goods, will retire and close the store Jan. 31 after 22 years of doing retail business in Bonners Ferry. The store on Main Street formerly was called the Berry Patch and the Village Knit-Wit. Woodward said she plans to design patterns for knitting machines and make crafts for shows.

Kootenai County

Harrison

Annie Russell, Harrison City Council member and Silver Hills Ski School instructor, has organized a ski package to Silver Mountain for beginner and novice skiers and snowboarders. The ski package includes rental equipment, lessons and lift tickets for six consecutive Sundays from this Sunday through Feb. 20. Russell also is organizing rental of a school bus for pickups at Harrison, Kootenai Junior-Senior High School, Medimont and possibly Rose Lake. Karen Engelby, a bus driver for the Kootenai School District, has donated her time to drive the bus, but donations are needed for the $80 rental every week. The program also needs chaperons. To help or sign up for the program, call Russell at (208) 689-9567.

Latah County

Moscow

Ivar Nelson, founder of BookPeople of Moscow and former publisher of the Palouse Journal, has been named interim director of the University of Idaho Press. The press will be reorganized to ensure financial stability while publishing books that reflect the expertise and interests of the university, state and region, Nelson said. Nelson, whose publishing career has spanned 26 years in the region, succeeds Margaret “Peggy” Morgan Pace who died Oct. 24 of complications from cancer. A search will begin soon for a marketing director.

Shoshone County

Kellogg

An extra shipment of flu vaccine recently was received by the Panhandle Health District to help meet demand for the vaccine. Appointments can be arranged by calling (208) 786-7474. Although the number of residents reporting flu symptoms has increased recently, health officials say they are not sure whether this year’s outbreak is any worse than past ones.

MONTANA

Lincoln County

Libby

Engineer Tom Abel of Kalispell, Mont., will discuss developing a community swimming pool at 7:30 p.m. today in the Ponderosa Room of the Libby City Hall complex. The meeting is being held by the Libby Parks District. A pool steering committee is discussing who would own the pool, who would manage it and who would maintain it if it is built.

Some of the information in “County Lines” comes from readers’ tips and from community newspapers. For items outside Spokane County, send your tips by fax to “County Lines” at (509) 459-5482; by mail to “County Lines,” The Spokesman-Review, P.O. Box 2160, Spokane 99210-2160; or by e-mail to news@spokesman.com. For items in Spokane County, send tips to Voices, The Spokesman-Review, at the same fax number and mail and e-mail addresses.